A week before this year's BET Awards, as [artist id="1838768"]Trey Songz[/artist] was working on his new album, Passion, Pleasure & Pain, the singer thought to himself that [artist id="3055069"]Nicki Minaj[/artist] would make for a good guest on the project. A week later, however, as he watched the awards show, he realized he wasn't the only fan of the Lil Wayne protégé: The Queens lyricist was on the BET stage practically all night.

"She came out so many times and her star power was so big, and she [hasn't even done] a record of her own," Songz recalled.

He thought Nicki Minaj would be over doing guest appearances and instead focus on completing her own album, Pink Friday. So, Trey Songz had his work cut out for him if he wanted to secure her for the single "Bottoms Up."

"We flirt all the time," he told MTV News. "I know I flirt with her every time I see her. Hey, Nicki. [He laughs.]"

"I actually told her when we were going to do the record, 'Baby, I want you to come by and listen to the album, I want it to be all the way authentic,' " Trey continued. " ' 'Cause I know you doing a lot of features, I know you supposed to be focusing on your album, and I know it's probably a lot going on with you right now. So I want you to come by when you get some time and I want to build with you.' I've known Nicki for about two years now, but we never ever had a chance to really build and have a real conversation. So she came to the studio for three hours and listened to my whole album."

The Virginia singer said that with his "I Invented Sex" and "Say Aah" records still spinning on radio, he wanted "Bottoms Up" to be able to stand out on its own. He called the single "an anthem" and explained that the title is derived from the phrase "bottles up," but a member of his crew suggested the more broad twist "Bottoms Up."

Songz described the video as the perfect complement to his and Nicki Minaj's vocals. "[It's] different from me or what's expected from me and anything I've shot for that matter," he said. "Anthony [Mandler] used a lot of different shooting techniques. I think it heightens whatever it is that the song has already -- the drive, the vigor, the club anthem, the energy in the record is definitely heightened in the video."